Large-scale industrial agriculture depends on
engineering the land to ensure the absence of natural diversity. But as
the recent emergence of herbicide-tolerant weeds on U.S. farms has
shown, nature ultimately finds a way to subvert uniformity and assert
itself, argues Verlyn Klinkenborg.
In his latest book, Jean Ziegler explains how the global hunger crisis is the direct consequence of neoliberal political decisions and the excessive influence of transnational corporations. With around one billion people still lacking access to basic food, more must be done to combat the power of agribusiness, argues Siv O'Neall.
As the threat of another famine haunts Africa, this time in the Sahel region, it is high time we finally accepted that global food systems are broken. Fixing them requires a new focus on small farmers, food reserves and long-term planning, argues Olivier De Schutter.
The activities of European banks, pension
funds and insurance companies are increasing global hunger and poverty
by speculating on food prices and financing land grabs in poorer
countries, according to a report by Friends of the Earth Europe.
The world already produces enough food for the year 2050, when the population is projected to reach 9 billion. Addressing hunger is not a question of increasing production, but rather one of learning to save and share food, writes Devinder Sharma.
The challenge of feeding 9 billion people by 2050 has as much to do with how our global agricultural markets are constructed as it does with increasing production. Policymakers must recognise food not just as a tradable commodity but as a basic necessity for survival, says Jim Harkness.
Deregulated derivatives markets have attracted huge sums of speculative money, and there is growing evidence that they deliver distorted and unpredictable food prices. The US, EU and G20 must take action to increase transparency and bring financial speculation under control, says a report by Oxfam.
